Light scattering in GaAs parabolic quantum wells.

We report the observation of electronic light scattering in photoexcited parabolic GaAs-Al sub (x) Ga sub (1-x) As quantum wells. The spectra show sharp peaks corresponding to transitions between sublevels in the conduction band. The precision of the measurements allows a test of the simple harmonic oscillator model for the energy level structure. The energy gap and alloy composition of the Al sub (x) Ga sub (1-x) As layers determined from resonance Raman scattering by optical phonons. We use these results to calculate the conduction band offset Q sub e. We obtain Q sub e ~ 0.7, in agreement with recent experiments in square quantum wells.